****EDIT: oops, it's not tuesday. wow.*************
i'm sorry i've been so vague about what's been going on the last few days.
sometimes, life can be a bit overwhelming to me, but God has a plan!
things are going much smoother now, though. :)
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just a quick question for your morning...
does your perfectionism with food help you, or hurt you?
are you too hard on yourself about your eating habits? do you expect healthy perfection all day long, with no "mess-ups?" do you feel guilty about "cheats?"
i had a great conversation last week with a sweet, dear friend about our childhood struggles with weight.
we were both always very challenged/afraid by food, and our weights reflected that (hello, yo-yo dieting!). so when she brought up how easy it is to feel defeated by food, i knew she had made an important point.
how often do we let one cookie derail our feelings about the whole day? how often do we beat ourselves up for eating something "bad?"
i always used to let my food dictate my emotions. if i ate "good food," then i had a much happier day. but if i was "bad," then the whole day was a wash.
i felt like i was a total failure because of my food. i let food beat me...!
sad to say, but sometimes, if i ate a cookie or two, it would start the snowball of emotions... "well, i've already screwed up today, so i might as well have some cake now..." and everyday, i would feel so hopeless about how i had eaten.
here's the thing - we have the total opposite view on food that we should.
first of all, what you eat DOES NOT DEFINE YOU. your value is based on much bigger things - God created you PERFECT just as you are. He didn't say you were beautiful if you only ate organic, grass-fed, or whatever. God doesn't think you're good because of your diet.
no, you are WONDERFUL today, regardless of if you are eating Oreos (or not).
but we tend to just zero in on the one thing that was less than ideal, and let it defeat us.
what i always missed was all the good things i did for my body other than eat the cookie. i totally missed the fact that i ran in the morning, ate a healthy breakfast, got an A+ on a test, drank water instead of soda, etc.
i let the one "less than healthy" thing total ruin my day... and that's so backwards!
and really, who cares about a stupid cookie!?!?
when we try to be healthy, we think healthy equals perfect.
my sweet friend explained she felt like healthy people don't ever get tempted by sweets, ever give in to indulgences, and have perfectly balanced diets...
no wonder she felt like a failure!
healthy does NOT mean never eating dessert. it does not mean having more willpower than someone else. it doesn't mean militant perfection.
what it does mean is making good choices for your health. healthy eating is about baby steps towards your goals - a longer, happier life, a more active life, and a disease-free life.
keep your attitude in check - what would happen if instead of slamming ourselves for eating a cookie, we praised ourselves for all the good choices we make?
i think we should do ourselves a HUGE favor, guys, and cut ourselves some slack! it's only when i realized there are no good or bad foods that i could let go of my hopeless feeling around foods, and actually enjoy eating.
when you don't think you're a bad person because of eating a cookie, life is so much more balanced!
and really - if eating cookies makes you a bad person, i should be on America's Most Wanted :)
let's forgive ourselves, move on, and remind ourselves how amazing me are!
do you feel defeated by food?
do you feel guilty for eating something "not healthy?"
-rebekah
first off - i am so glad things are starting to get better for you :) it's all because of your positive attitude. negative thoughts don't ever evoke positive experiences.
ReplyDeleteand secondly, i am over ever feeling "defeated" by food, too! i am glad that i am at a point where, if i eat something considered "junky," so what? it's not going to kill me! i live a healthy life 95% of the time, why should i feel like indulging is off limits? food is fuel. fuel keeps you going :) and i think healthy means balance - not perfection. and a healthy mindset is most important!
(p.s. am i really going crazy, or is it monday today? i had to take a couple minutes to think when i saw this pop up in my reader this morning. it's a good excuse to not go in to work, though... ;)
I am definitely too hard on myself sometimes, but I think everyone goes through that. You're right though, a bit of good old junk food doesn't kill you! Love your positivity :)
ReplyDeleteI think that I'm lucky in that once I made the change to my eating habits, the junk food actually seemed gross to me. I don't want to eat it. I know not everyone has these sentiments and it's harder for them to deny things like that, but those foods made me feel awful and once I eliminated them I felt much better. But really I'm talking about the over-processed junk food with artificial ingredients out the yin-yang. I'm totally fine with eating a cookie that's not exactly the healthiest but made with pure ingredients. I'll try to make up for eating it by upping my veggie intake for the day or something, but I don't feel too bad about it. :)
ReplyDeleteI eat what makes me feel good, both physically and emotionally. I just, again, am very lucky that I have convictions so strong that the foods that aren't good for me actually skeeve me out a bit. It makes it a LOT easier. My friend was like, "But don't you get tempted sometimes?" and honestly, I don't!
But my way of eating is pretty much designed by me, for me, and while it may suit some others people should eat what's right for THEM. They should eat what makes them happy and makes them feel good and healthy. If that means balancing between junk food and health food, so be it! Whatever works, I say. :)
Very important words, Rebekah. It is worth to reflect upon our relationship with food, as so many have a twisted understand of what a healthy lifestyle is. It is not to never enjoy a cookie, it is to view food for what it is : fuel and pleasure. Food is not to be put into rigid categories, a healthy lifestyle has room for a little piece of all heavenly.
ReplyDeleteAnd a healthy lifestyle is a life were we are in control of food, not the other way around. That is my goal. To not feel fear by the thought of specific types of food, or to feel guilty for enjoying something. During my binge period that was what happened ; I felt guilty for eating one piece of chocolate, felt like the whole day was a failure so why not empty the kitchen for all sweets?
It was stressful and painful, it was food that had control over me. These days I am taking back the control, working on changing my way of using food to deal with emotions and to feel like a failure because of food.
We are, as you say, much more than what we eat.
i agree- who cares about a cookie, a cookie shmookie hehe. i think any perfectionism with food is a total hinderance.. food needs to be fuel and fun combined. too much of either or and i feel like the balance switches. ur incredibly wise- i always love reading what u post and have to say <3 xoxo
ReplyDeletehonestly I couldn't agree more with you in this post. I think trying to eat perfect (what is that by the way?) just sets you up for failure because if you go "off" even just a little I think someone would feel guilty. You are the same person, regardless of how many cookies you ate last night. Personality > body/food.
ReplyDelete